South Africa ease to win

07 July 2015 11:31

South Africa strolled to a 31-run victory against Bangladesh in the second and final Twenty20 international in Dhaka on Tuesday.

A first-wicket stand of 95 in 10.3 overs by Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers and a flurry of late hitting from David Miller and Rilee Rossouw helped the Proteas to 169 for four in their 20 overs.

Bangladesh lost regul ar wickets during their chase and, despite a brisk 37 from Soumya Sarkar at the top of the order, they were dismissed for 138 with four balls remaining as leg spinner Eddie Leie picked up three for 16 on his international debut.

Victory for South Africa ensured they won the two-match series 2-0 after earning a 52-run win in the first T20 encounter in Dhaka on Sunday.

Openers De Kock and De Villiers piled on the runs in the early exchanges and the latter brought up South Africa's 50 by clubbing the final ball of Mustafizur Rahman's second over - the sixth - to the extra cover boundary.

De Kock smashed Shakib Al Hasan over the mid-wicket boundary in the very next over to register the game's first six and repeated the feat against Mashrafe Mortaza in the 10th over as South Africa reached 95 without loss at the halfway stage.

De Kock had been getting plenty of joy on the leg side but went for one big shot too many and was caught at mid-wicket off Arafat Sunny to depart for 44 from 31 deliveries, including four fours and two sixes.

JP Duminy (six) and De Villiers (40) fell to successive Nasir Hossain deliveries in the next over as South Africa slipped from the comfortable position of 95 without loss to 102 for three in a matter of minutes.

Captain Faf du Plessis and Miller laboured to a 34-run fourth-wicket partnership in 6.1 overs before the captain edged Mustafizur behind, but Rossouw smashed 19 from just six deliveries as he and Miller added 33 from 13 balls as the Proteas finished with a flourish.

Sarkar and Tamim Iqbal made a steady start in reply, compiling 46 in 5.5 overs, before Tamim failed to pick Wayne Parnell's slower ball and succeeded only in top-edging to mid-wicket.

Sarkar fell in the next over, stumped by De Kock to give Leie his first wicket in international cricket and, after Shakib fell to Aaron Phangiso, Bangladesh were in real trouble when they lost Sabbir Rahman and Mushfiqur Rahim (19) to successive Leie deliveries to slump to 82 for five.

The hosts had not added to their score when Nasir (nought) picked out long off to give Phangiso a second wicket and leave the hosts six down, and Phangiso (three for 30) struck once again when Litton Das could not get enough muscle behind a lofted straight drive and was well held by David Wiese.

Skipper Mortaza (17) and debutant Rony Talukdar (21) provided some resistance but they were bowled by Kyle Abbott (three for 20), and the paceman sealed a comfortable victory for the tourists when he repeated the feat to remove Mustafizur without scoring.

Source: PA